Method and system for providing live television and video-on-demand content to subscribers

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to a method and system for providing live television and video-on demand content to a plurality of content viewers&#39; devices, the content viewers&#39; devices having a plurality of disparate content viewing applications thereon. A content provider uploads content to a content server and the content server delivers that content in a streaming format upon request to the user devices. In order to upload the content, the content providers access a web page hosted by the content server with a plurality of encoders embedded into the web page. The content providers use the embedded encoders to convert the content into a plurality of streaming formats and upload the content to the content server in the streaming formats. This significantly speeds up the transfer of content to the content server, ensures that the content is made available to the user devices earlier, and obviates the need for additional expensive equipment at the content server.

INTRODUCTION

This invention relates to a method and system for providing Live TV andor video-on-demand content to a plurality of content viewers' devices,the content viewers' devices having a plurality of disparate contentviewing applications thereon.

Throughout this specification, the terms content viewer's devices, userdevices and variants thereof have been used interchangeably and will beunderstood to include mobile telephones and Internet enabled devicessuch as but not limited to personal computers, smartphones, smart TVdevices, laptops, computing tablets such as iPads (Registered Trade Mark(®™)) and the like.

As content viewer's devices have become more technologically advancedand their processing capability has increased, they are increasinglybeing used for viewing video-on-demand content. Typically, thevideo-on-demand content clip is sent from a content provider to acontent server. The content server encodes the clip into a streamingformat suitable for distribution to user devices and the contentviewer's device thereafter downloads or streams the clip the clip in theviewing format to view on their user device. However, due to the largenumber of user device manufacturers and the variety of user devicehandsets, there are numerous different types of content viewingapplications, not all of which are compatible with the streaming formatprovided by the content server.

In order to overcome this problem, the content server will usuallyencode the content clip into a plurality of different streaming formatsthat are suitable for a range of user devices. The content viewer'sdevice users are then able to download the clip in the streaming formatcompatible with the content viewing application on their user device. Inthis way, the content will be accessible to a far wider audience. Thereare however several problems with the known methods and systems.

First of all, video-on-demand content clips are often relatively largein size, typically between 1 to 2 gigabytes (Gb) in size for a fewminutes of regular viewing. The content clips can be even larger informats such as high definition that are currently available. Thecontent provider has to upload the clip from their computer to thecontent server. This upload can take a significant period of time, oftenin excess of 15 minutes to complete. Secondly, this lengthy transfer ofthe large content clip requires a significant amount of bandwidth toperform and is therefore usually expensive to do. Thirdly, a substantialamount of expensive equipment is required at the content server as thecontent server must store the original copy of each content clipreceived from the content provider as well as copies of the content clipin all of the encoded streaming formats.

Finally, in addition to the above, there is a further problem in that itoften takes a significant length of time for a clip to be encoded andmade available to content viewer's device users as backlogs often ariseat the content server. It is not uncommon for a clip to take 24 hoursbefore it is made available to the users. This is highly disadvantageousin many instances particularly those where the content clip is news orcurrent affairs related. A significant delay can result in the contentclip being rendered irrelevant or out-dated.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and systemthat overcome at least some of the above-mentioned problems.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION

According to the invention there is provided a method of providing LiveTV or video-on-demand content available for distribution to a pluralityof content viewers' devices, the content viewers' devices having aplurality of disparate content viewing applications thereon, in a systemcomprising:

-   -   a content provider computer operated by a content provider; and    -   a content server accessible by the content provider computer        over a data communications network and accessible by the content        viewers' devices over one of the data communications network and        a mobile telecommunications network, the content server having        accessible memory, the method comprising the steps of:    -   storing content on the content provider computer;    -   the content provider computer accessing a webpage hosted by the        content server, the web page having a plurality of content        encoders embedded therein;    -   the content provider computer selecting the content for        distribution and thereafter encoding the content into a        plurality of streaming formats using the plurality of content        encoders and uploading the content in the plurality of streaming        formats to the content server;    -   storing the content in the plurality of streaming formats on the        content server's accessible memory; and    -   updating at least one of a web page and a wireless application        protocol (WAP) page accessible by the content viewers' devices        with a link to access the uploaded content.

By having such a method, all encoding of the content will be performednot on the content server but instead will be performed on the contentprovider computer. This will reduce the size of the files beingtransferred from the content provider computer significantly, often by afactor of 100 times or more, thereby reducing the time taken to transferthe files to the content server and reducing the bandwidth requirement.In addition to the above, the equipment requirement and cost at thecontent server will be significantly reduced as the large originalcontent clip is no longer provided to the content server and the contentserver does not require expensive hardware encoders to encode the clips.Furthermore, the encoded content will be available to the user devicesfar quicker than was heretofore the case as the content clip will nothave to wait to be encoded into several different streaming formats bythe content server. Instead, the content will be made available to userdevices in multiple streaming formats almost instantaneously. Inaddition to the above, the content provider will be able to keep theoriginal content in-house and the original content will not be locatedremotely out of their control.

A significant advantage of the present invention results from the mannerin which the plurality of encoders is embedded into a web page. Byembedding the encoders into a web page, the content provider will nothave to download various software applications for encoding the softwareonto their computer and the encoding is all done through the web page.The content will be encoded into a plurality of streaming formats anduploaded to the content server in a single unitary action and thecontent provider will not have to perform multiple encoding anduploading operations, one for each of the different streaming formatsthat it wishes to provide the content in, or indeed separate encodingand uploading actions for each streaming format. In this way, theprocess is highly automated. Furthermore, as specialised software is notrequired on the content provider computer, the content provider canupload content from any computer that has web access. This is seen asparticularly beneficial as content providers will be able to uploadcontent from any device capable of storing the content and accessing theweb page.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a method comprisingthe preliminary step of providing a web page tailored specifically tothe content provider with the plurality of encoders embedded thereinpre-selected according to a content provider's specification. In thisway, the content provider can determine which streaming formats itwishes to support and can choose a wide range of content viewingapplications that its content can be viewed with.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a method in whichthe content server hosts a plurality of web pages each having aplurality of encoders embedded therein and the step of the contentprovider computer accessing a web page hosted by the content serverfurther comprises the content provider computer accessing the web pagetailored specifically for the content provider.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a method in whichthe web page comprises a plurality of web page components and the methodcomprises the initial step of embedding only one encoder in any givencomponent. This is seen as a particularly beneficial aspect of thepresent invention. Generally speaking, it is not possible to placemultiple encoders into a single web page and have each of those multipleencoders encode a particular content file in a single unitary operationas the multiple encoders will conflict and stall. Advantageously, byplacing only one encoder into any given component, the encoders will notconflict with each other.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a method in whichthe web page comprises a web page component and the method comprises theinitial step of programming a plurality of encoders in a sequentialmanner into a single component so that the encoders are called in apredetermined sequence. This is seen as a useful alternative to placingonly a single encoder into a given component and reduces the number ofcomponents required.

In order to achieve this, the code could be provided with a sequence inone script. The script would make exact determinations on the processalong with some “whatIf” type statements to check what is about to bedone before doing it. This is similar to running a batch script, with acommand saying if something isn't there, skip it. According to thepresent invention, a check is performed to see if a particular encoderis present, and then start that encoder first before starting theremaining encoders.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a method in whichprior to encoding the content into a plurality of streaming formats, themethod comprises the step of determining whether there is a Windows(®™)-based encoder embedded in the web page and, if present, startingencoding with the Windows (®™)-based encoder before encoding with theother encoders.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a method comprisingthe additional step of establishing a private secure network connectionbetween the content provider computer and the content server. Byestablishing a private secure network connection through the internet,it will be possible to upload the encoded content in streaming formatfrom the content provider to the content server in a fast, secure mannerand the encoded content can be uploaded to the content server as thecontent is being encoded.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a method comprisingthe step of uploading the encoded content in streaming formatimmediately as it is encoded. This reduces the time taken to completethe encoding and uploading operation thereby further reducing the timerequired to upload content to the content server and make it availableto the user devices.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system forproviding video-on-demand content to a plurality of content viewers'devices, the content viewers' devices having a plurality of disparatecontent viewing applications thereon, the system comprising:

-   -   a content provider computer operated by a content provider, the        content provider computer having a web browser;    -   a content server accessible by the content provider computer        over a data communications network and accessible by the content        viewers' devices over one of the data communications network and        a mobile telecommunications network;    -   a web page hosted by the content server and accessible by the        content provider computer, the web page having embedded therein        a plurality of encoders for encoding content into a plurality of        streaming formats and uploading the content in the plurality of        streaming formats from a content provider computer to the        content server;    -   the content server having accessible memory for storage of the        content in the plurality of streaming formats; and    -   the content server hosting at least one of a web page and a WAP        page accessible by the content viewers' devices with a link to        access the uploaded content thereon.

This is seen as a particularly useful and efficient, yet simple, systemto use to provide content in multiple streaming formats to user deviceswith a plurality of disparate content viewing applications. Such asystem reduces the infrastructure cost significantly and furthermorewill enable content to be made available to user devices faster than washeretofore the case.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system in whichthe content server hosts a plurality of web pages each having aplurality of encoders embedded therein.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system in whicheach web page is tailored specifically to one of the content providerswith the plurality of encoders embedded therein pre-selected accordingto that content provider's specification.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system in whichthe web page comprises a plurality of web page components, eachcomponent having only one encoder embedded therein.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system in whichthe web page comprises a web page component and there is provided aplurality of encoders programmed in a sequential manner into the webpage component.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system comprisinga private secure network connection between the content providercomputer and the content server.

In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a system in whichone of the content provider computer and the content server is locatedlocally and the other of the content provider computer and the contentserver is located remotely.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention will now be more clearly understood from the followingdescription of some embodiments thereof given by way of example onlywith reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a system for providingvideo-on-demand content known in the art;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of a system for providingvideo-on-demand content according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a screen shot of a web page used to implement the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a screen shot of another web page used to implement thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a web page illustrating the layout of theweb page according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a web page illustrating the layout of theweb page according to a second embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a screen shot of an administration web page used to implementthe present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a diagrammatic representation of asystem for providing video on demand content already known in the art,indicated generally by the reference numeral 1. The system comprises acontent provider computer 2 and a content server, indicated generally bythe reference numeral 3. The content provider computer 2 communicateswith the content server 3 over a data communications network,illustrated here by the internet 11. The content server 3 in turnfurther comprises a content server processor and temporary storage 5, anencoder bank 7 having a plurality of encoders and a memory 9. There isfurther shown a plurality of mobile telephones 13, 15, 17 incommunication with the content server 3 over a mobile telecommunicationsnetwork 19. For simplicity, only three mobile telephones have been shownhowever it will be understood that there may be several more userdevices in communication with the content server.

In use, a content provider uploads content from their content providercomputer 2 to the content server 3 over the internet 11. The content isa video clip and typically will be relatively large in size, of theorder of 1 to 2 Gb. The time taken to upload the clip varies dependingon the speed of the internet connection but it is not uncommon for theclip to take in the region of 15 minutes to upload with relatively goodinternet connection speed. Once uploaded, the content is stored incontent server processor and temporary storage 5 until such time thatthe encoder bank 7 is in a position to receive the content. In someinstances, due to the fact that the encoder bank will receive severalcontent clips from that content provider and a plurality of othercontent providers (not shown), there will be a backlog and the contentclip is not sent to the encoder bank 7 for an extended period of time,possibly for several hours.

When the encoder bank 7 is ready to receive the content, the content ispassed through the plurality of encoders in the encoder bank 7, each ofwhich converts the content into a different streaming format, and thestreaming format versions of the content are stored in memory 9, readyfor distribution to the mobile telephones 13, 15, 17. A link is insertedon a web and a WAP page accessible by the mobile telephones to allowaccess to the content. When one of the mobile telephones requestscontent from the content server 3, the content in the appropriatestreaming format for that requesting mobile telephone's content viewingapplication is retrieved from memory 9 and transmitted to the mobiletelephone over the mobile telecommunications network 19.

Referring to FIG. 2 of the drawings, there is shown a diagrammaticrepresentation of a system for providing video-on-demand contentavailable for distribution to a plurality of content viewers' devicesaccording to the invention, indicated generally by the reference numeral21, where like parts have been given the same reference numeral asbefore. The system comprises a content provider computer 22 havingaccessible memory 29, in communication with a content server 23 over adata communications network 11. The content server 23 comprises acontent server processor and web server 25 and an accessible memory 27.The content server processor and web server 25 hosts a web page (notshown) having a plurality of encoders embedded therein. There is furthershown a plurality of user devices, in this case represented by mobiletelephones 13, 15, 17 in communication with the content server 3 over amobile telecommunications network 19. For simplicity, only three mobiletelephones 13, 15, 17 have been shown however it will be understood thatthere will be many more mobile telephones, perhaps tens or hundreds ofthousands of mobile telephones in communication with the content server.Indeed, it will be understood that many other types of user devicescould be in communication with the content server 23 over the mobiletelecommunications network 19 or the data communications network 11.

The content server 23 will also preferably include a WAP server (notshown) for servicing streaming format content requests from mobiletelephone's and may include a second web server (not shown) forservicing streaming format content requests received over the internet11 from other computing devices (not shown) such as, but not limited to,personal computers (PCs), laptops, tablets, iPads (Registered Trade Mark(®™)), think pads, smart phones, iPhones (®™) and the like computingdevices that can communicate over the internet 11 as opposed to themobile telecommunications network 19. Alternatively, the content serverprocessor and web server 25 could handle communications with both thecontent providers and the other computing devices. Content server 23,will include a WAP server and in some cases a web server and in othercases an applications server. The content provider will be able toupload content via the internet or a telecoms network. The end user willalso be able to view the latest content over the internet or over thetelecommunications network.

In use, an operator of the content provider computer 22 accesses the webpage with the plurality of encoders embedded therein hosted by thecontent server processor and web server 25. Preferably, this is doneover a private secure network connection between the content providercomputer 22 and the content server 23. Once the web page with theplurality of encoders embedded therein is rendered on the contentprovider computer 22, the operator of the content provider computer 22selects a content clip stored in accessible memory 29 and inserts thedetails of the content clip into the web page. The web page thereafterretrieves the content clip from accessible memory 29 and provides thecontent clip to the encoders embedded in the web page.

The plurality of encoders embedded in the web page encode the contentinto a plurality of streaming formats and simultaneously upload thecontent in the plurality of streaming formats to the content server 23.The content server 23 stores the content in accessible memory 27 readyfor distribution to the user devices, in this case the mobile telephones13, 15, 17. A link is created by the content server processor and webserver 25 and inserted on at least one of a web and a WAP page to allowaccess to the content by the plurality of user devices 13, 15, 17. Whenone of the user devices requests content from the content server 3, thecontent in the appropriate streaming format for that requesting userdevice's content viewing application is retrieved from memory 27 andtransmitted to the mobile telephone over the mobile telecommunicationsnetwork 19.

Technically speaking, the software is embedded in the page, similar tothe manner in which a java script might be embedded into a page showinga real time clock. The software is an application in which the code isembedded into a page to make it easier to access without having todownload multiple applications and learn how to use them.

The content is available practically instantaneously to the mobiletelephones due to the fact that the content is already in a plurality ofstreaming formats prior to reaching the content server 23 and thecontent does not have to await encoding. Furthermore, the encodedcontent will be a fraction of the size of the original content clip,usually of the order of a few megabytes (Mb) in size, and is uploadedfar quicker than with the prior art system. This speeds up the deliveryof the content to the mobile telephones. Advantageously, a copy of theoriginal content clip in un-encoded format does not have to be stored inthe content server's accessible memory 27.

It is envisaged that there will be several content providers incommunication with the content server, however for reasons ofsimplicity, only one of which has been shown in the present embodiment.Therefore, it is envisaged that there will be several web pages, each ofwhich is specific to a given content provider. The content provider canaccess their web page and upload content in the streaming formatsdesired by them into a location desired by them also. Furthermore, it isenvisaged that a content provider, per se, may in fact comprise a numberof contributors operating on one or more content provider computers butare grouped together as a single content provider. For example, acontent provider may be an institution such as The British BroadcastingCorporation (BBC) (®™) television station and a plurality of thetelevision station's personnel, for example their news reporters, wouldhave access to the BBC's web page hosted by the content server 23 forencoding and uploading content. Any of the reporters, using any computerwith a web browser and an Internet connection, could access the BBC'sweb page hosted by the content server 23 and encode and upload contentin streaming formats to the content server 23.

It can be seen therefore from the foregoing that content can be uploadedfrom any of the reporters using their own browser on their contentprovider computer 22 and from the content in their content providercomputer's memory 29. The content could come directly from a videocamera (not shown) or the like that is connected to a network which inturn connects the video camera to the content provider computer 22 orthe video camera could be connected directly to the content providercomputer 22 via a cable or other link.

In the embodiment shown, the system and methods determine the type ofuser device that is being used. In this way, when a user logs in, themethod and system according to the present invention recognize whatdevice type of user device it is, such as a mobile telephone, PC orSmart TV and the appropriate content format is provided to them.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, there are shown representations of theweb page for use by the content provider and hosted by the contentserver. Referring specifically to FIG. 3, after the content provider haslogged in to the web page, preferably using a username and a robustpassword, the web page 31 shown in FIG. 3 will be rendered on theircontent provider computer 22 screen. The web page 31 comprises a Filefield 33, an Upload button 34, a Title field 35, a Description field 36,a Tags field 37 and a Save button 38. It is envisaged that additionalfunctionality will be added to this page such as value, duration,additional copyright, location for use, genre, age limit and the like.

The File field 33 allows the content provider computer to select a filestored on the hard drive or on a memory device connected to thecomputer. The user can type in the file name and location or can searchusing commonly known search tools used to search for a file in acomputer system. Once selected, the user inserts a title of the contentin the Title field 35, a description of the content in the Descriptionfield 36 and several tags for the content in the Tags field 37. Tags areidentifier words used to assist in searching for content and are wellunderstood in the art. If the user wishes to encode and upload thecontent, they select or click on the Upload button 34 in the knownmanner, for example by using a pointing device such as a mouse andclicking the mouse button when a mouse cursor is over the Upload button34. This causes the screen to be updated to the screen shown in FIG. 4.Alternatively, the user can click on the Save button 38 and the sessionwill be saved in memory on either the content provider computer'saccessible memory 29 or as a session on the content servers accessiblememory 27.

Referring specifically to FIG. 4, there is shown a web page, indicatedby the reference numeral 41. The web page has a number of fields 42, 43,44, 45, 46 that allow the user specify the location of the content ontheir Web and WAP pages that are accessible by content viewers using webaccessible devices and mobile telephones. Once the user has selected thelocation of the file in their content offering, the user clicks on theupload button 47 and the file is encoded into a plurality of streamingformats and simultaneously uploaded to the content server's accessiblememory 27 and the links to the content are inserted in the desired,specified locations.

Referring to FIG. 5, there is shown a block diagram of a web page 51,illustrating the format of the web page according to a first embodimentof the present invention. The web page 51 comprises a plurality of webpage components, 52, 53, 54, 55 and 56. There are further provided aplurality of encoders, 57, 58, 59, 60 and 61. It will be noted thatthere is only one encoder in each of the components. In this way, theencoders do not have a tendency to conflict with each other. By clickingon the upload button as previously shown in FIG. 4, the content isaccessed by each of the encoders as each of the encoders is called inturn through a call to their component. In the embodiment shown, onlyfive encoders are used however it will be understood that several moreor less encoders could be provided depending on the content provider'srequirements. If a Windows-Based Encoder (®™) is present as one of theencoders, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, it is invoked before any of the otherencoders to prevent conflict between the encoders. The functions are allhidden from the user as indeed are the pages. In the example of FIG. 5,there are effectively 5 pages embedded in one page. By pressing theUpload Button in FIG. 3, the encoding of the content is invoked.

Referring to FIG. 6, there is shown a block diagram of a web pageillustrating the content of the web page according to a secondembodiment of the present invention, indicated generally by thereference numeral 71. The web page 71 comprises a plurality of web pagecomponents, 72, 73, 74, 75 and 76. There are further provided aplurality of encoders, 77, 78, 79, 80 and 81. In this embodiment, thereis provided a plurality of encoders in a single component 76. Theplurality of encoders are programmed in a sequential manner into the webpage component 76 so that they do not conflict with each other. If aWindows-Based encoder such as Windows Media Player is present as one ofthe encoders, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, it is invoked before any of the otherencoders to prevent conflict between the encoders. In the embodimentshown, only five encoders are used however it will be understood thatseveral more or less encoders could be provided depending on the contentprovider's requirements.

It will be understood that the content providers will be able to specifythe types of encoders that they wish to have in their web page during aninitial web page construction phase. For example, the web page may havea template of components and encoders and the content provider candecide that they wish to support all available streaming formats inwhich case all of the encoders will be embedded in the web page.Alternatively, if they do not wish to support all formats they may pickand choose which encoder types that they wish to support and only havethose encoders embedded in the web page. The unwanted components and/orthe encoders can be removed with ease from the web page without having adetrimental effect on the remaining web page code.

Referring to FIG. 7, there is shown a screen shot 91 of anadministration web page used to implement the present invention. Theadministration web page has a plurality of sections including anencoding engine menu 93 and an updating settings menu 95. The encodingengine menu 93 provides a list of the functionality and viewing formatsthat the content provider may use and update including general uploadingsettings, 3GP settings, MPEG-4 settings, WMV settings, Flash Settingsand Content Provider (CP) login.

The content of the updating settings menu 95 is presented depending onthe selection chosen by the user from the encoding engine menu 93. Inthe embodiment shown, the user has selected the uploading settings iconfrom the encoding engine menu 93 and a plurality of sections 97, 98, 99are provided in the updating settings menu 95 that relate to theuploading settings profile of the content provider. The sections 97, 98,99 include a CP detail section 97 which contains information about thecontent provider including their ID, the upload limit size, the contentproviders location, the content provider's uploaded directory addressand the content providers uploaded image directory address. CPpermissions section 98 includes the list of content formats withcheck-boxes to indicate which of the content formats the CP is currentlyable to provide to their customers. In the embodiment shown, the contentprovider is able to provide content in 3GP and FLV file formats. CP Tagssection 99 contains a list of the various tags under which the contentprovider can display their content.

If one of the other icons is selected from the encoding engine menu,such as the 3GP settings menu, the various settings for 3GP uploads willbe provided, such as, but not limited to, the content provider ID, theoutput extension, the audio sampling rate, the size, the audio bit rate,the frame rate for EDGE, the bit rate for 3G, the bit rate for GPRS, thevideo CODEC, the audio channel, the audio CODEC, the buffer size, theframe rate for 3G, the frame rate for GPRS and the bit rate for EDGE. Inaddition to these options, it is envisaged that there will be providedan “apply” button and a “cancel” button to accept or reject respectivelyany proposed changes to the settings made by the user during thesession. Similar options will be provided for each of the other icons inthe encoding engine menu 93.

It will be understood that the web page is hosted on the content server,although in principal, this could also be a standalone offering on aseparate machine and only be used for encoding, security and dictatingwhere the content will end up being stored or hosted depending on thecontent provider's wishes. Furthermore, it will be understood that inaddition to trying to run multiple encoders from one page, there wouldalso be inherent difficulties in running multiple applications at thesame time if the user had downloaded and installed the encoderapplications all on the local computer. There is also the fact of insome instances if a machine was setup in a certain way, whereas the usercould potentially run multiple media applications simultaneously, theymay have the additional issue of accessing the same file at the sametime by these applications. Accordingly, the present invention overcomessuch problems also.

In certain circumstances, a particular “work start” process may have tobe put in place. There are certain scenarios where different encodingformat processes must be started before other ones in order to avoidconflict. This is common particularly on windows based systems.

It will be appreciated that there are a number of additional elementsand advantageous aspects to the present invention. First of all, thepresent invention comprises an administration tool that allows newcontent providers to be added in a seamless fashion. This includesproviding a secure link, a selection of data sections to add to thecontent being uploaded, a selection of formats to be used depending onthe receptive audience, the amount of content sections to be includedand the like. Secondly, the administration tool will generate both thecontent provider page and an end viewer set of pages for differentdevice types. This is achieved without significant user interaction andis a highly automated process.

It will be further understood that the method according to the presentinvention will be performed largely in software and therefore thepresent invention extends also to computer programs, on or in a carrier,comprising program instructions for causing a computer to carry outsteps of the method, in particular the encoding and uploading steps. Thecomputer program may be in source code format, object code format or aformat intermediate source code and object code. The computer programmay be stored on or in a carrier, in other words a computer programproduct, including any computer readable medium, including but notlimited to a floppy disc, a CD, a DVD, a memory stick, a tape, a RAM, aROM, a PROM, an EPROM or a hardware circuit. In certain circumstances, atransmissible carrier such as a carrier signal when transmitted eitherwirelessly and/or through wire and/or cable could carry the computerprogram in which cases the wire and/or cable constitute the carrier.

It will be further understood that the present invention may beperformed on two, three or more machines with certain parts of thecomputer-implemented method being performed by one machine and otherparts of the computer-implemented method being performed by anotherdevice. The devices may be part of a LAN, WLAN or could be connectedtogether over a communications network including but not limited to theinternet. Many of the method steps could be performed “in the cloud”,meaning that remotely located processing power may be utilised toprocess certain method steps of the present invention. Accordingly, itwill be understood that many of the method steps may be performedremotely, by which it is meant that the method steps could be performedeither on a separate machine in the same locality or jurisdiction orindeed on a separate machine or machines in several remotejurisdictions. For example, the content provider computer could be in afirst jurisdiction whereas the content server could be in a secondjurisdiction. Similarly, the content server processor and web server maybe in one jurisdiction and the content server accessible memory could bein a second jurisdiction. The present invention and claims are intendedto also cover those instances where the method is performed across twoor more machines located in one or more jurisdictions and thosesituations where the parts of the system are spread out over one or morejurisdictions.

In this specification the terms “comprise, comprises, comprised andcomprising” and the terms “include, includes, included and including”are all deemed totally interchangeable and should be afforded the widestpossible interpretation.

The invention is in no way limited to the embodiment hereinbeforedescribed but may be varied in both construction and detail within thescope of the specification.

1. A method of providing live television or video-on-demand contentavailable for distribution to a plurality of content viewers' devices,the content viewers' devices having a plurality of disparate contentviewing applications thereon, in a system comprising: a content providercomputer operated by a content provider; and a content server accessibleby the content provider computer over a data communications network andaccessible by the content viewers' devices over one of the datacommunication network and a mobile telecommunications network, thecontent server having accessible memory, the method comprising the stepsof: storing content on the content provider computer; the contentprovider computer accessing a web page hosted by the content server, theweb page having a plurality of content encoders embedded therein; thecontent provider computer selecting the content for distribution andthereafter encoding the content into a plurality of streaming formatsusing the plurality of content encoders and uploading the content in theplurality of streaming formats to the content server; storing thecontent in the plurality of streaming formats on the content server'saccessible memory; and updating at least one of a web page and a WAPpage accessible by the content viewers' devices with a link to accessthe uploaded content.
 2. The method as claimed in claim 1 comprising thepreliminary step of providing a web page tailored specifically to thecontent provider with the plurality of encoders embedded thereinpre-selected according to a content provider's specification.
 3. Themethod as claimed in claim 2 in which the content server hosts aplurality of web pages each having a plurality of encoders embeddedtherein and the step of the content provider computer accessing a webpage hosted by the content server further comprises the content providercomputer accessing the web page tailored specifically for the contentprovider.
 4. The method as claimed in claim 1 in which the web pagecomprises a plurality of web page components and the method comprisesthe initial step of embedding only one encoder in any given component.5. The method as claimed in claim 1 in which the web page comprises aweb page component and the method comprises the initial step ofprogramming a plurality of encoders in a sequential manner into a singlecomponent so that the encoders are called in a predetermined sequence.6. The method as claimed in claim 1 in which prior to encoding thecontent into a plurality of streaming formats, the method comprises thestep of determining whether there is a Windows-Based encoder embedded inthe web page and, if present, starting encoding with the Windows-Basedencoder before encoding with the other encoders.
 7. The method asclaimed in claim 1 comprising the additional step of establishing aprivate secure network connection between the content provider computerand the content server.
 8. The method as claimed in claim 7 comprisingthe step of uploading the encoded content in streaming formatimmediately as it is encoded.
 9. A system for providing video-on-demandcontent to a plurality of content viewers' devices, the content viewers'devices having a plurality of disparate content viewing applicationsthereon, the system comprising: a content provider computer operated bya content provider, the content provider computer having a web browser;a content server accessible by the content provider computer over a datacommunications network and accessible by the content viewers' devicesover one of the data communications network and a mobiletelecommunications network; a web page hosted by the content server andaccessible by the content provider computer, the web page havingembedded therein a plurality of encoders for encoding content into aplurality of streaming formats and uploading the content in theplurality of streaming formats from a content provider computer to thecontent server; the content server having accessible memory for storageof the content in the plurality of streaming formats; and the contentserver hosting at least one of a web page and a WAP page accessible bythe content viewers' devices with a link to access the uploaded contentthereon.
 10. The system as claimed in claim 9 in which the contentserver hosts a plurality of web pages each having a plurality ofencoders embedded therein.
 11. The system as claimed in claim 10 inwhich each web page is tailored specifically to one of the contentproviders with the plurality of encoders embedded therein pre-selectedaccording to that content provider's specification.
 12. The system asclaimed in claim 9 in which the web page comprises a plurality of webpage components, each component having only one encoder embeddedtherein.
 13. The system as claimed in claim 9 in which the web pagecomprises a web page component and there is provided a plurality ofencoders programmed in a sequential manner into the web page component.14. The system as claimed in claim 9 comprising a private secure networkconnection between the content provider computer and the content server.15. The system as claimed in claim 9 in which one of the contentprovider computer and the content server is located locally and theother of the content provider computer and the content server is locatedremotely.
 16. A computer program product having program instructionsstored thereon for causing a computer to implement the method stepsperformed by the content server of claim
 1. 17. A computer programproduct having program instructions stored thereon for causing acomputer to implement the method steps performed by the content providercomputer of claim 1.